Nintendo Not Worried About Used Game Sales

Used game sales for next gen systems has been a controversial topic these last couple months, with both Microsoft and Sony landing on different sides of the fence. Now Nintendo is weighing in on the subject.

In an interview with Polygon, Nintendo of America president Reggie Fils-Aime said "We understand that used games are a way for some consumers to monetize their games. They will buy a game, play it, bring it back to their retailer to get credit for their next purchase."

However later on, Fils-Aime explain why Nintendo also isn't worried about used game sales effecting its bottom line. "The replayability of our content is super strong. The consumer wants to keep playing Mario Kart. The consumer want to keep playing New Super Mario Bros. They want to keep playing Pikmin. So we see that the trade-in frequency on Nintendo content is much less than the industry average – much, much less. So for us, we have been able to step back and say that we are not taking any technological means to impact trade-in and we are confident that if we build great content, then the consumer will not want to trade in our games."

Sounds like Nintendo's approach to stemming the tide of used games is to just make better games, which sounds like a pretty reasonable policy to us. What do you think?

It's a great policy Nintendo. Stick with it. I still have all my favorite Nintendo games from the past. Since the SNES days to the Wii. Getting a WiiU at some point in the near future, after I get the PS4.

I like it. It really is a shame that these guys don't get the developer support they deserve. They seem to honestly care just about making great games, and their products reflect that. They want people to be entertained, and they want them to keep experiencing that entertainment for a long time to come. its great to see in today's industry.

For as "out of touch" as people claim Nintendo to be, they seem to just.....get it. They want to create game experiences so great that people won't want to trade in used games, but still see the value of used games for the people that choose to. They never even considered any of the DRM policies that are floating around out there. In the online space, they offer their services for free, which include online multiplayer and the awesome Miiverse.

And even though they're behind in certain areas, like a unified account system, one has to remember that the two companies that have such a feature are not allowing digital purchases to transfer over to their next gen systems. As "out of touch" as Nintendo is, they offered that option right out of the box on day one. They want us to play our games for a long time, and they made sure we can. Now just give us some protection for our decisions.

Are they perfect? heck no. do some of their decisions leave us scratching our heads? absolutely. but these guys seem to fully understand the number one thing when it comes to gaming: it's all about the games. It's why I've always been a Nintendo fan, and why I'll always be a Nintendo fan. There will be moments when they frustrate you, but when it comes to what's important, they almost never disappoint.

That is a great comment to make. If the games that everyone would make would be high production value and but the effort into these games instead of making the same games over and over with different titles I believe most people would keep their games. Microsoft needs to look at some of Nintendo strategies and apply it to themselves. They have been at it a lot longer.